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The world would be so much better if I was in charge!

by James Barringer  
2/09/2010 / Christian Living

Be honest: have you ever thought how much better the world would be if you ran the show? I've said it myself, although not lately; I'm a pretty mellow guy, and I think that Emperor of the World would be more of a hassle than I'd be willing to put up with.

But recently I heard it said by one particular Christian, and it really rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps it was the half-dozen other silly and arrogant statements that preceded it. Perhaps it was just that the woman wasn't very bright, and the thought of having her in charge of anything more important than an ant farm made me queasy. Either way, I saw the phrase in a way I've never seen it before.

Leading up to that comment, the woman said, "I hate people who get upset about stupid things." It doesn't sound terribly arrogant, but it is: she's implying that she's the only one capable of accurately determining what is and isn't worth being upset about, and that she reserves the right to hate anyone who disagrees with her opinion. Next came, "I hate stupid people," by which she presumably means anyone less intelligent than her. Again, she reserves the right to decide who is and isn't stupid, and she reserves the right to hate anyone who doesn't pass her particular test.

Maybe that was why my knees started quivering when she unleashed, "I wish I was in charge, so I could straighten those people in Washington out a bit!" Cheap shots at Washington aside, I'm pretty glad we have a leader whose opinions are a little more nuanced than "Everyone who disagrees with me is stupid and wrong." But the thing is, I think most people secretly do believe that line, and I think most people, especially lost people, really do believe the world would be a better place if they were in charge of everything.

It wouldn't, for a variety of reasons. I won't tell you the context of the angry woman's statements, but suffice to say it was extremely apparent that she belongs to one particular political party. If she was unilaterally in charge, everyone in every other party would be completely alienated. She would have things absolutely her way and everyone else would either come over to her side or just be miserable. Regardless of those people's opinions for holding their position, regardless of any possible reasons why the woman's own opinions may be biased or just plain incorrect, everyone else would have to bow the knee to her particular tyranny or else suffer the consequences.

No matter how you get around it, if you were in charge of the world, basically you could only please about half the people. Half of Americans support abortion and half don't, and you have to choose one option or the other: which half are you going to alienate? Half of Americans support low taxes and the other half support strong federal spending; which half are you going to alienate? You may have strong opinions on those things, but you can't avoid the fact that other people, even other Christians - some who are even (gasp!) more intelligent than you - believe the opposite, having put just as much time and thought into their opinions as you have. How do you respond to that? Either you have an incredibly inflated view of your own intelligence ("I don't care what they say, I'm right and I know I'm right!") or else you're prepared to be a totalitarian dictator ("I realize they have good opinions but we're going to do it my way anyway"). Forgive me for thinking that neither of those is a win for you or for the world, nor is either a particularly God-centered way of interacting with other people.

In fact, "things would be awesome if I were in charge" is really the epitome of selfish arrogance. You can see this because it's the unspoken belief in the heart of every person on earth. Prior to meeting God, that line governs the way we live our lives. We do whatever we want to do, obey rules if we want to obey them, treat people well if it benefits us in some way, break our own rules and violate our own consciences on a whim. Giving our lives to God - and I mean truly relinquishing control, not just saying a prayer in which you insincerely pledge to give your life to God and then go on doing things the exact same way - is the most counterintuitive thing on the planet. It flies in the face of our self-preservation instinct, which most sociologists say is the strongest instinct known to humans.

Christians should really be saying, "Things would be awesome if the God of the Bible was in charge." What if everyone on earth really did bear the fruit of the Spirit, if we were all loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled? Who would be alienated by becoming more like that, and who wouldn't want to live in a world where everyone acted in such a way? Who could take offense at "Love the Lord your God who made you and deserves your worship, and love your neighbor as yourself"? See, if we all did things my way or your way, we'd be happy and at least half of everyone else would be miserable. With God's way, though, everyone on earth would be the person they were always supposed to be before their own selfishness got involved and made them self-centered instead.

I mean, how many of the world's problems would go away just by bearing the fruit of the Spirit? If the world's rich, including you and me, really felt the plight of the world's poor as if it was our own, we could singlehandedly eliminate hunger overnight. It wouldn't even be a challenge. The poor receiving our help wouldn't take advantage of it, because they'd be self-controlled. Palestinians and Israelis would believe in forgiveness and could come to live in unity. Crime and exploitation would vanish overnight because people respected each other as humans and didn't want to do them harm. Who wouldn't want to live in that world?

We can help usher in that world by taking God seriously in our own lives. He can't rule the world until he rules you and me. And he can't rule you and me until we stop wanting to rule the world, and stop wanting to rule ourselves. How would our lives be different if we were really loving, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled? And why aren't we that way today?

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

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